Beck Back To Old Columbus Home

UPDATE 12/19/08 1:31 PM: OMW hears that displaced WTVN/610 midday host Joel Riley will be designated the "primary fill-in" for the station's two remaining local hosts, Bob Conners and John Corby...duty which should give him at least a few weeks of airtime over the course of a year, since both Conners and Corby have extensive vacation time.

We're told Riley will also continue with Corby and Joe Bradley in the Friday "Big Bass Brothers" segment on Corby's show, and that he could have other duties in the Clear Channel Columbus cluster.

Our original item is below...

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Premiere syndicated midday talk show host Glenn Beck is heading back to his long-time Columbus radio home.

Clear Channel talk WTVN/610 has announced that Beck's show will return to the 9 AM-noon slot on the station, displacing local host Joel Riley, starting on Monday, January 5th. The move mirrors one made up here in Cleveland, where Beck came back to WTVN sister station WTAM/1100, replacing local midday host Bob Frantz.

Frantz landed in the WTAM evening slot.

WTVN's new schedule starting January 5th does not list a weekday show for Riley. The rest of the schedule is unchanged, with evenings still occupied by soon-to-be-Premiere/ABC Radio host Sean Hannity and ABC's Mark Levin. Riley had occupied evenings until moving into middays.

OMW hears, however, that Joel Riley and his producer are "remaining with the station" with different roles. We haven't heard yet what those roles will be.

After WTVN originally bounced Beck in favor of local talk with Riley, it tried to convince him to move to sister talk WYTS/1230 "Talk 1230" - a move Beck and Premiere vetoed.

That sent Beck over to North American Broadcasting talk WTDA/103.9 "Talk FM", which eagerly put him into the 10 AM to 1 PM slot.

You do the math here...is "Talk FM" heading for another format?

With Beck's move back to WTVN, and the previously announced move of Premiere's "Bob and Tom" to WTDA's sister rock outlet - WRKZ/99.7 "The Rock" - that leaves a 6 AM to 1 PM hole in the "Talk FM" schedule in early January.

We haven't heard any format change rumblings out of WTDA yet, but we also haven't heard what the station will do to replace seven hours of prime programming time it's about to lose.

We also don't know if WTDA afternoon drive sports talk host "Mark the Shark" is still being heard at all on his old home at 99.7, after the "Bob and Tom" move to that frequency...